Questions of labor market and labor intermediation have been a political concern in most European countries as well as the USA and Canada since the late 19th century. In contemporary debates, public labor exchanges have been depicted as a tool to cope with the confusing complexity of labor markets and to match the supply and demand of labor more effectively.
Up to now, only a few studies have asked how public labor exchange contributed to the emergence and differentiation of nationalized labor markets. However, public labor exchange did not just coordinate or regulate a given labor market but also contributed to the historical creation of labor and the segregation of labor markets. By defining regular employment, it helped to impose a particular distinction between formal and informal (or casual) work, between “real” economy and a shadow economy. It established formal criteria of classifying occupational skills and employability. Finally it aimed at distinguishing those willing and able to work from those deemed “work-shy”.
Previous research has mostly focused on the political aims and formal regulations of labor intermediation. By contrast, we know little about how labor exchanges functioned practically and what it meant to be subjected to those practices. Moreover, it seems necessary to reflect on the practical impact of public labor exchange on looking for jobs and discuss it in the context of the variety of all forms of intermediation. Public labor offices have always been only one of many possible ways of finding employment or employees, but they have not necessarily been the most commonly used one. According to contemporary and recent estimates, informal practices of finding employment by help of kin or other social networks, newspaper ads or direct inquiries have been important job search practices. Job placement by commercial mediation, charitable organizations, trade unions or associations has been quite common as well.

The workshop will compare practices of labor intermediation and ways of finding employment in the 19th and 20th centuries across a variety of countries.

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